A former news outlet converted into a proudly progressive personal political and public policy blog. I’ll surely make people angry. Good. I hope I make them think.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

More Political Pornography

When the Local Government Corp. announced recently that it
would join with the City Council, Downtown Amarillo Inc., Tax Increment Reinvestment
Zone and others in a community meeting on July 1, TIRZ Chairman Richard Brown
and others represented the meeting as one seeking input and discussion. It
turns out now as a story unfolds in the AmarilloGlobe-News and on at least two Facebook pages (here and here),
that this meeting is another ploy at propaganda to shove the Wallace
Bajjali-Downtown Amarillo Inc. plan down our throats.

While the first clue that the meeting Wednesday wasn’t
really for community input came from reports about Mayor Paul Harpole’s “Town
Hall” meetings, at which he has been reported to reject an election on the
Wallace Bajjali-DAI stadium, clear confirmation arrived Sunday with the story
referenced above.

“The purpose of the meeting on Wednesday is to bring before
the City Council and Amarillo Local Government Corp. a review of what has been
done and what’s next, so that informed decisions can be made going forward,”
the article states in an unattributed paragraph. What makes this particular
paragraph unusual for the Globe-News is the lack of attribution, veering from
the normal style of crediting a source to every paragraph.

One other usual feature in this story is the move from bashing
City Hall back to the overt propaganda for the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan.

The other ramping up of the propaganda are those two
Facebook pages. The first is a community page called “Advance Amarillo,” which
purports to “work to educate our community on the importance of growth downtown
and beyond.”

“Educate,” in this case, means continuing to spread the lies
that no public money will pay for these Wallace Bajjali-DAI projects. It is
clear that, while private investors have indicated interest in the projects, public
subsidies in the form of guarantees and tax abutments will reach into taxpayer pockets.
And two of the ramrods for this page seem to be Walter Riggs, a prominent
banker in Amarillo, and Steve Pair, a former news director and Red Cross
executive. Both have been four-square part of the Wallace Bajjali-DAI support
group.

The second Facebook page is labelled: “This is the official
Facebook page for Amarillo City Commissioner, Dr. Brian Eades.”

It, too, furthers the propaganda for the Wallace Bajjali-DAI
plan. It would also be of interest to know if the city’s information technology
people maintain this page for Eades, thus using city resources for propaganda, or
if he maintains it himself.

What both pages have in common is this: Every post from
someone who disagrees with the Wallace Bajjali-DAI plan is refuted, often with
misinformation if not outright untruth. Further, the modus operandi of the pro-Wallace
Bajjali-DAI plan is to call those opposed to the Wallace Bajjali-DAI debacle “negative,”
as though it is a great insult. And it overlooks that many support
revitalization, but want a more honest and rational approach.

The last city election was very much about the direction of
downtown coupled with a referendum on whether the leadership in this city could
be trusted. I will continue to point out that I warned this city about Wallace
Bajjali and no one listened. But all said and done, I was right. There are
other voices suppressed, political games played and questionable judgment
infesting the entire effort so far. That the FBI and a grand jury is even
looking at the Amarillo Economic Development Corp. and some of the other activities
(including how the Herring Hotel has been treated) is enough taint to this
process, even if no true bill is reported.

This get-along-by-going-along is hurting Amarillo in the
long run. The revitalization effort needs to be rebooted and more open.